scourge and a salue a curse and a Saviour is the best way to humble and convert a sinner 37 As a body in the grave is not pained nor dis-affected with the weight and darknesse of the earth the gnawing of wormes the stinke of rottennesse nor any violence of dissolution because the principle of sense is departed So though wicked men lie in rotten and noisome lusts and have the guilt of many millions of sins lying on their soules yet they feele nothing because they have no spirit of life in them 38 If Gods grace prevent sinners before repentance that they may returne shal it not much more preserve repenting sinners that they may not perish 39 As the sweetest wine in an aguish palate tasts of that bitter humour which it finds there So lusts and curses interweaving themselves in a wicked mans hands take away the sence of their simple goodnesse turne their table into a snare and the things which should have bin for their good into an occasion of falling 40 As in vntilled ground there are ill weeds of all sorts yet commonly some one that growes rifer and ranker then all the rest So in the soule of man there are spirituall weeds of all sorts yet usually some one pestilent humour more predominant then all the rest which if once mastered in us the other petty ones will bee the easilier subdued 41 Every one say some hath his owne Balsome in him but it s most sure that every one hath his owne bane in him 42 As the earth though but a Center or point to the heaven yet is a huge body of it selfe So there is no sin though but a mote in comparison of some other yet is a beame in it selfe 43 Though sinne in the Godly bee plucked up by the root yet it s not wholly pulled out though dejected in regard of its regency yet not ejected in regard of its inherence 44 As when wine is poured out of a cup the sides are yet moist but when it s rinsed and wiped there remaines neither tast nor tincture so that glimmering of divine light left in a naturall man is so put out by obstinacy in an evill course that not the least sparkle thereof appeareth 45 As the spider sucks poison out of the most fragrant flowers or as a foule stomacke turns good food into ill nourishment so wicked men make ill conclusions of good promises and perverse application of wholsome precepts 46 All the dirt in the world cannot defile the sun all the clouds that muffle it it dispells them all yet sin hath defiled the soule that as farre passeth the sun in purenesse as the sun doth a clod of earth yea the least sinne defiles it in an instant totally eternally 47 The deluge of waters which overflowed all the world washed away many sinners but not one sin and the world shall be on fire yet all that fire and those flames in hell that follow shall not purge one sin 48 Though the old wals and ruinous palace of the world stand to this day yet the beauty the glosse and glory is soiled and marred with many imperfections cast upon every creature by mans sin 49 All the evills in the world serve but to answer and give names to sin It s called poison and sinners serpents it 's called a vomit and sinners dogs the stench of Graves and they rotten sepulchers sin mire and sinners sows sin darknesse blindnes shame nakednesse folly madnesse death whatsoever is filthy defective infective or painfull 50 By how much the soule exceeds all other creatures in excellency by so much sin which is the corruption poison sicknes and death of it exceedeth all other evils 51 When Eudoxia the Empress threatned Chrysostom goe tell her saith he nil nisi peccatum timeo I feare nothing but sinne 52 As bring one candle into a roome the light spreads all over and then another and the light is all over more increased So every sin in us by a miraculous multiplication inclineth our nature more to sin then it was before 53 All things in the world if they bee great then are but few if many then are but small the world is a big one indeed but yet there is but one the sands are innumerable but yet small but our sins exceed both in number and nature infinite and great 54 Wicked men live upon the creame of sin and having such plenty then picke out none but the sweetest bits to nourish their hearts withall Iames 5.5 55 As the killing of a King is amongst men a crime so hainous that no tortures can exceed the desert of it all torments are too little any death too good for such a crime so sin which is Dei cidium a destroying of God so much as in us lies is so hainous that none but God himselfe can give it a full punishment 56 As a cloth is the same when its white and when died with a scarlet colour yet then it hath a tincture given it that is more worth then the cloth it selfe So when a man sins not knowing the law the sinne is the same for substance it would be if he had knowne it but that knowledge makes it of a scarlet colour and so far greater and deeper in demerit then the sinne it selfe 57 A sinne against knowledge is when knowledge comes and examines a sin in or before the committing of it brings it to the law contests against it cōdemnes it and yet a man approveth and consenteth to it 58 As nature elevated by grace riseth higher then it so being poisoned with sin it is cast below it selfe 59 To sinne against mercy of all other increaseth wrath for such must pay treasures for treasures spent as lavishly they spend riches of mercy so God will recover riches of glory out of them 60 Gods servants are noble and free though fettered in chaines of Iron as the slaves of sinne are base prisoners though frollicking it in chaines of gold 61 Sinne is the spawne of the old Serpent the birth of hell and the vomit of the Devill 62 Sinne is more hatefull to God then the Devill for hee hates the Devill for sinnes sake not sin for the Devils sake 63 Sinne is like a Serpent in our bosoms which cannot live but by sucking out our life blood 64 Hee that is under the dominion of his lusts never yet resolved to part with them 65 One little hole in a ship will sinke it into the botome of the sea and the soule will be strangled by one little coard of vanity as well as with all the cart roaps of iniquity 66 When a man dives under water hee feeleth not the weight of it though there bee many tuns of water over his head whereas halfe a tub of it taken out of its place and set upon his head would bee burthensom so whilst a man is over head and eares in sinne he is not sensible of nor troubled with the weight of it but when hee begins to
darknesse to cause if it were possible blacknesse of darkenesse even utter despaire in them 406 When men goe about to extinguish and darken the light of direction which God hath put into their hearts to guide their paths by hee putteth out the light of comfort and leaves them to darkenesse 407 Other afflictions are but the taking some stars of comfort out of the Firmament when others are left still to shine there but when Gods countenance is hid from the soule the Sun it selfe the Fountaine of light is darkened to such and so a generall darkenesse befals them 408 God in afflicting of his children proportioneth the burthen to the back and the stroke to the streÌ„gth of him that bears it 409 One Sonne God had without sinne but not without sorrow for though Christ his naturall son was sine corruptione without corruption yet not sine correctione without correction though hee was sine flà gitio without crime yet not sine flagello without a scourge 410 As two peices of Iron cannot bee foundly souldred together but by beating and heating them both together in the fire so neither can Christ and his brethren bee so nearly united and fast affected but by fellowship in his sufferings 411 God by affliction separateth the sinne that hee hates from the sonne that hee loves and keepes him by these thornes that hee breake not over into Satans pleasant pastures which would fat him indeed but to the slaughter 412 A Torch burnes after a while the better for beating a young tree grows the faster for shaking Gods vines beare the better for bleeding his spices smell the sweeter for pounding his gold lookes the brighter for scouring God knowes that wee are best when wee are worst and live holiest when wee dye fastest and therefore frames his dealing to our disposition seeking rather to profit then to please us 413 As winds and thunders cleare the ayre so doe afflictions the soule of a Christian 414 Good men are like glow-wormes that shine most in the darke like Iuniper that smels sweetest in the fire like spice which savoureth best when it is beateâ— like the Pomander which becomes most fragrant by chafing like the Palme tree which proves the better for pressing like Cammomile which the more you tread it the more you spread it and like the Grape which comes not to the proofe till it come to the â—resse 415 Affliction like Lots Angels will soone away when they have done their errand like Plaisters when the sore is once whole they will fall off 416 Hard knots must have hard wedges strong affections must have strong afflictions and great corruptions great crosses to cure them 417 Gods corrections are our instructions his lashes our lessons his scourges our Schoole-masters and his chastisements our advisements Isa. 26.9 418 The Christians under the ten Persecutions lasting about one hundred and 8. yeares had scarce a leape yeare of peace in which some as too ambitious of Martyrdome rather woed then waited for their deaths 419 There is in Christ erected an office of salvation an heavenly Chancery of equity and mercy not onely to moderate the rigour but to reverse and revoke the very acts of the law 420 Though we be still bound to all the law as much as ever under the perill of sin yet not under the paine of death which is the rigour of the law 421 Gods children are as fully bound to the obedience of the law as Adam was though not under danger of incurring death yet under danger of contracting sinne 422 The Law is spirituall therefore it s not a conformity to the letter barely but to the spiritualnesse of the law which makes our actions to be right before God 423 The Law of it selfe is the cord of a Iudge which bindeth hand and foot shackleth unto condemnation but by Christ it s made the cord of a man and the bond of love by which he teacheth us to go even as a Nurse her Infant 424 The Law for the sanction is disjunctive either do this or dye for the injunction its copulative doe both this and that too 425 Gods children are not under the Law for Iustification of their persons as Adam was noâ— for satisfaction of divine Iustice as those that perish are but they are under it as a document of obedience and a rule of living 426 When the Law was once promulgated to Adam and put into his heart as the common Arke of mankind though the Tables be lost yet our Ignorance doth not make the Law of none effect 427 They who seeke to put out the truth of Gods word by snuffing of it make it burne the brighter 428 All like well to have Gods word their comforter but few take care to make it their counsellor 429 When wee reade the Scriptures if wee cannot sound the bottome we should admire the depth kisse the booke and lay it downe weepe over our ignorance and send one hearty wish to heaven oh when shall I come to know as I am knowne 430 To alledge Scripture in favour of sin is to entitle God to that which he hates worse then the devill and to make him a Patron and Patterne of wickednesse and his Word a sword for Satan his sworn Enemy 431 Plain places of Scripture are for our nourishment Hard places for our exercise these are to bee masticated as meat for men those to be drunke as Milke for Babes by the former our hunger is staid by the latter our loathings 432 As the Lapidary brightens his hard Diamond with the dust shaved from it selfe so must wee cleare hard places of Scripture by parallell texts which like glasses set one against another cast a mutual light 433 When men are sick though they cast up al they eate yet we advise them to take something for something will remaine behind in the stomack to preserve life So we should heare the Word though wee forget almost all wee heare for some secret strength is gotten by it 434 When the body is sick we use to forbeare our appointed food but when the soule is sick there is more need of spirituall food then ever for its both meat and Medicine Food Physick Cordials and all 435 It s better to loose the Sun of the Firmament then the Sunne of the Gospel 436 The glorious Gospel of Iesus Christ the Sonne of Righteousnesse shining upon one that is dead in sinnes causeth him to stinke the more hatefully both before the face of God and man 437 Ministers that have good parts should labour to adorne the same by holinesse of life without which the other are but as pearles in the head of a filthy Toad a Pearle in the head and the body all poyson 438 Some deale with their Ministers as Carriers doe with their horses lay heavy burthens upon them and exact worke enough but afford them but easie commons and then to recompense this they shall have bels hung about their necks they shall bee commended for able
of the world in loathsomnesse and rottennesse 585 The Grammarian that can decline all Nounes in every case cannot decline death in any case 586 When Adam and Eve became subject to death because of their sinne God clothed them with the skins of dead beasts to mind them of their mortality 587 Its hard for a man to thinke upon long life and to thinke well 588 As a Bird guideth her flight by her taile so the life of man is best directed by a continuall recourse unto the end 589 The remembrance of death is like a strainour all the thoughts words and actions which come through it are cleansed and purified 590 An holy life empties it selfe into an honourable death 591 Christians who live dying and dye living loose nothing by death but what may well be spared Sinne and Sorrow 592 Life is deaths seeds-time death lifes Harvest as here we sow so there we reape as here wee set so there wee gather of a blessed life a death as blissefull 593 It s no death but life to be joyned to Christ as it s no life but death to bee severed from him 594 Sicknesse puts men in mind of their sins Conscience speaking lowdest when men grow speechlesse 595 It s no true life that yeeldeth to death that tendeth to death that endeth in death It s true life that is eternall 596 Life is a precious prey where God spares it especially in publike calamities 597 With the Papists the ostentation of the prosperity of their estate is the best demonstration of the sincerity of their Religion 598 To inferre that Romes faith is best for her latitude and extent is falsely to conclude the finenesse of the cloath from the largenesse of the measure 599 A great part of the Popish Religion consisting of errors and false-hoods its sutable that accordingly it should bee kept up and maintained with forgeries and deceits 600 There is such an Antipathy betweene a Protestant and a Papist as is betweene the two birds in Plutarch the Siskin and the Muskin which will fight eagerly alive and being dead if you mixe their blood it will runne apart and discociate or like the two Poles of heaven which stand for ever directly and diametrically opposite 601 Many popish miracles are starke lies without a rag of probability to hide their shame where the beleever is as foolish as the inventer impudent 602 Pictures have beene accounted lay mens books but now they are found to be full of errataes and never set forth by authority from the King of heaven to bee meanes or workers of faith 603 The Popes converting faculty workes strongest at the greatest distance for the Indians he turnes to his religion and the Iewes in Italy he converts to his profit 604 The Pope perswades men they are cleansed of their sins when they are wiped of their money by his Indulgences he hath the conscience to buy earth cheape and sell heaven deare 605 One being accused and cited to appeare at Rome found the Popes doores shut against him but he opened them with a golden key and found their hands very soft towards him whom formerly hee had greased in the fist 606 The Pope is like that Shepherd that knowes no other way to bring home a wandring sheepe then by worrying him to death 607 It hath alwayes bin the Popes custome to make the secular power little better then an Hangman to execute those whom hee condemnes 608 The Pope will not dispence that Princes should hold plurality of temporall dominions in Italy especially hee is so ticklish hee cannot endure that the same Prince should embrace him on both sides 609 Men cannot bee canonized by the Pope without great sums of money whereby it seemes that Angels make Saints at Rome 610 As Purgatory fire heats the Popes Kitchin so the Holy-water fils his pot if not paies for all his second course 611 The Papists by their Holywater pretend to wash men from their profanenesse whiles they profane them by their washing 612 Covents got their best living by the dying which made them contrary to all others most to worship the Sun setting 613 Henry the eight breaking the necks of al Abbies in England scattered abroad their very bones past possibility of all recovering them 614 Superstition not only taints the rind but rots the very core of many actions 615 As its sacriledge to father Gods immediate workes on naturall causes so its superstition to entitle naturall events to bee miraculous 616 Its just with God that those who will not have Truth their King and willingly obey it should have false-hood their Tyrant to whom their judgements should be captivated and enslaved 617 No opinion is so monstrous but if it have a Mother it will get a Nurse 618 Obstinacy is that dead flesh which makes the greene wound of an errour fester by degrees into the old sore of an heresie 619 In the Westerne parts formerly heresies like an angle caught single persons which in Asia like a Drag-net caught whole Provinces as alwayes errors grow the fastest in hot braines 621 The Grecians had the Statue of Peace with Pluto the the God of riches in her armes and the Romans with a Cornu copia 622 Hercules Club was made of Olive the Embleme of Peace 623 A cheape olive Branch of Peace is better then dear Bayes of victory 624 The Latines did but flourish when they called war bellum as the Grecians flouted when they called the Faries Eumenides 625 Peace is better then warre as for other causes so because that in times of peace usually children bury their parents but in time of warre Parents are wont to bury their children 626 One comming to a Generall for justice What dost thou talke to me of justice saith he I cannot heare the noyse of Law and Iustice for the sound of drums and Guns Arma silent leges 627 War is a Tragedy which alwayes destroyes the stage wheron it s acted 628 In suddaine alterations it cannot be expected that all things should bee done by square and compasse 629 The Devill in his oracles used to earth himselfe in an Homonymy as a Foxe in the ground if hee be stopped at one hole hee will get out at the other 630 Custome and long continuance in slavery doth so harden and brawn mens shoulders that the yoake thereof doth not paine them 631 Vertue will quickly wither where it is not watered with reward 632 Modesty being the case of Chastity it is to be feared that where the case is broken the Iewell is lost 633 Vnto a double apprehension of justice in God there must answer a double act of Righteousness in man or in his surety for him to Gods punishing justice a Righteousnesse Passive whereby a man is rectus in curia againe and to Gods commanding justice a Righteousnesse Active whereby hee is reconciled and made acceptable to God againe 634 They which are most alone should bee most in the company of good thoughts 635 Hee that
THE SAINTS NOSE-GAY OR A POSIE OF 741. Spirituall Flowers Both Fragrant and fruitfull Pleasant and profitable Collected and composed by SAMVEL CLARK Pastor of the Church in Alcester The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of Truth The words of the wise are as goods and as nailes fastned by the Masters of the assemblies which are given from one Shepherd Eccles. 12.10 11. LONDON Printed by I. D. for Henry Overton and are to be sold at his shop entring into Popes-head Alley out of Lumbard-street 1642. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THE LADY KATHERINE BROOK Wife to Right Honourable ROBERT Lord BROOKE Baron of Beuchampen-Court Much honoured Madam KING Solomon the wisest of men having tyred himselfe in seeking to obtaine happinesse by the studies of learning and knowledge and at last finding that hee that encreaseth knowledge encreaseth sorrow hee turnes himselfe another way and seeing the knowledge of the creatures could doe him no good he thought to try what delight the use of them could bring unto him in the pursuance whereof hee gave not himselfe over to brutish and unmanly pleasures but to the free use of such creatures as the Lord hath bestowed upon the sonnes of men for their refreshing and delight amongst which hee reckons up gardens and Orchards stored with all sorts of fruits and flowers these hee might have enjoyed with much profit and comfort if hee had used them aright but seeking for happinesse in them no such honey could be sucked out of the daintiest of those flowers no such wine out of the fruitfullest of those grapes and therefore hee concludes looking upon all the workes which his hands had wrought that all was vanity and vexation of spirit Eccles. 2.11 Now as the Lord afforded unto him such choise delights so he hath bestowed upon your Ladiship a confluence of outward felicities and amongst them Gardens if I may guesse not farre inferiour to Solomons and those beautified and inameld with variety of the choisest flowers whose lively verdures and fragrant smels if I mistake not your Ladiship is much pleased with yet herein I presume in a much different way from Solomons as not seeking happinesse in them but rather desiring by those objects to raise up your soule to such contemplations as may truly further your eternall happinesse and if your Ladiship shall find such heavenly odours in those flowers whose purest matter is the earth and whose freshest beauty is so fading what will you doe in a Nose-gay of flowers whose matter is divine and whose smell and beauty will never decay Such anone I doe here humbly present unto your Ladiship you may use it summer and winter without feare of withering yea herein are flowers both for food and physick for meats and medecine Length of time will no whit impaire either the beauty or Vertue of them and therefore they doe most transcendently excell all earthly flowers whatsoever Indeed I must ingenuously confesse that few of them grew upon mine owne soyle yet before I could bind them together in this handfull my labour was not small in walking through so many Gardens out of which I have selected them neither as I hope will it be offensive or prejudiciall to the worthy Planters and Owners of them some of which are with God others now living that I thus disperse them abroad themselves having first made them common If your Ladiship please to vouchsafe your favourable acceptance of them I doubt not but they will take the better with others and if God may receive the glory and his People benefit by these my labours I shall have mine end whose ambition it is to be esteemed Alcester Septem. 20. 1641. Your Honours humble servant and remembrancer at the Throne of Grace SAMVEL CLARKE To the Christian READER Christian Reader IF ever that prophecie of Habakkuk 2.14 was yet fulfilled that the earth should bee filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Certainely it is in our times and nation wherin the bright Sun-shine of the Gospel hath enlightned our whole Horizon and that not as at the first dawning of the day but as risen up to his Noone-point and our Ministers as bright Starres fixed in their severall orbs and receiving light from it doe communicate it to others and if ever time and place since the Apostles might glory in a knowing learned godly and painefull Ministery ours much more A taste whereof this ensuing worke will afford unto thee wherin thou shalt find a collection of such golden sentences precious for matter and beautifull for composure as will shew the Authors of them to be men endowed with singular abilities conferred upon them by God for the edificatiō of his church and that I may speake my mind freely most of them are worthy to bee written in Letters of gold upon pillars of Marble that they may remaine to all future posterities Indeed towards the latter end I have inserted some flowers of humanity amongst those of divinity dealing therein as most doe with their Gardens in which here and there they afford some room for French flowers in regard of their beauty to the eye though the smell please little or as Solomon in his Proverbes many of which are not only divine but Morrall Ethicall Politicall c. And howsoever the whole worke consists of sundry briefe sentences yet thou shalt find them not altogether without method for that usually such as might bee ranked under an head are conjoyned togther as first of sinne in generall both originall and actuall then of sundry particular sins then of Repentance Grace Faith c. And indeed there are few heads in Divinity of which something may not be found herein and towards the latter end there are many Miscellanies which could not be so well reduced to an head In all my aime hath beene to mixe profit and pleasure together that such Readers as affect either whiles they seeke for the one might find the other Also which being done I have mine end which next after Gods glory was thy soules good and in Recompence of my paines desire thy prayers for him who is Devoted to the service of thy faith SAMVEL CLARK A POESIE OF Spirituall Flowers 1 THE sinne of man because he was Lord and Head of the world was a spreading and infectious evill which conveyed poyson into the whole frame of nature and planted that seed of universall dissolution which shall one day deface with darkenesse and horrour the beauty of that glorious frame which wee now admire 2 Pride Ambition Rebellion Infidelity Ingratitude Idolatry Concupiscense Theft Apostacy unnaturall affections violation of the Covenant an universall Renunciation of Gods mercy promised and the like were those wofull Ingredients of which the first sinne was compounded in the committing whereof we were all sharers because Adams person was the Fountaine of ours and his will the representative of ours 3 Sinne in the Faculty is
poyson in the Fountain that sheds infection into every thing that proceeds from it 4 Lust as its like fire in multiplying so ' its like hel-fire in abiding it needs not to be preserved by a supply of outward materials to foment and cherish it but it supports it selfe 5 As the water when ' it s stopt in ' its principall course yet one where or other where it best may it will find a vent even so Lust in the heart when the mind and faculties and body and members are quite tyred out in the principall service will make a shift to breake forth into some easier vent 6 A mans actuall sinnes are personal and therefore intransient they begin and end in himselfe but originall sinne is naturall and therefore with the nature it passeth over from a man to his posterity being an entaile that can never bee cut off 7 Originall sinne is left whole to every child of Adam all have it and yet every one hath it all too 8 A godly mans trouble is not only for the smart and sting of sinne but for the filth and foulenesse of it and the offence done to God by it he accounts the greatest evill in sinne as God himselfe doth 9 Though our sinnes be exceeding great yet we must labour to see an Al-sufficiency in God a largenesse of his mercy which is able to swallow them up 10 A pure heart casts out sinne as pure liquor doth scum 11 As when oyle and water are mixed together the oyle will worke it selfe out and purifie it selfe so a regenerate man though he sinne hee doth not mingle with sinne but hee workes it out by repentance 12 Whilst fire and water contend neither is overcome but when one yeelds to the other then ' it s overcome so when there is a contestation betweene us and sinne if we yeeld to it wee are overcome of it and hee that is overcome of sinne cannot be in Christ 13 As a Medicine is applyed in vaine so long as the arrow head is in the wound so if but one sin or failing be allowed all the meanes of grace are in vaine to that person 14 The sinnes of Gods people are sooner ripe then the sinnes of the Heathen which know him not because they have the constant light and heat of his word to hasten their maturity 15 As there is chaffe about every corne in a field saltnesse in every drop of the sea and bitternesse in every branch of wormewood So there is sinne in every faculty of man 16 Sin cleaves not only to our members but runs over with a prodigious exuberancy into our very excrements and adjacents Absalon was proud of his haire Iezabel of her paint Herod of his roabs c. 17 Not to sinne is here only our Law but in heaven it shall be our reward 18 God suffers some sinne to remaine in his children to draw them still to him to cast them alwayes upon the hold and use of their faith that their prayers may still find something to aske which hee may give and there repentance something to confesse which hee may forgive 19 A lust may dog and pester and overtake an holy man that hates it and yet he hates it stil and the word may fright drive a wicked man from the sin he loves and yet hee loves it still 20 As the cloud which the Prophets servant saw was at first no bigger then an hand after it grew to cover all the Heavens and the reason was it rose out of a sea So the sinne of a man wil continually grow and over-flow all his life and the reason is it hath a sea of lust to supply it continually 21 Lust is like a furious rider never weary of the way though the poor beast wch must serve the Riders turne may quickly bee worne out 22 If we who are Gods children doe our endeavour in mortifying our sinnes the grace of Christ in us wil weaken much the grace and favour of Christ to us will forgive the rest and the power of Christ at last will anihilate all 23 The suggestions of sin quickly beget delight and delight as easily growes into consent and when the will like the Master-Fort is taken the inferiour members can no longer stand out 24 Sinne hath certaine Maximes and Principles of corrupted reason which it takes for indubitable and secure wherewith it countenances its tyrannicall commands 25 Though the first allurements of sinne seeme modest and moderate yet if the Serpent get in but his head hee will easily wind in the rest of his body or if hee should not yet his sting is in his head 26 Sinne loves not to be betrayed or complayned of Mutuall confession of sinne to those who will pray for a Sinner is a meanes to heale it 27 As sinne is a violation offer'd by man to the law so punishment is a violation retorted from the Law to man 28 Sin is in the will of a man as a bias in a bowle as a flame in smoke or as sports in the body to actuate and determine it to its owne way hee therefore cannot resist the will of sin who hath no more then a sinfull will to resist it by 29 The heart is a forge to contrive and the members instruments to execute the heart a wombe to conceive the members midwives to bring forth lust into act 30 The more tenderly and seriously any man is affected with the sense and sorrow for the power of sin the more hee is deterred from it 31 A ship may in the midst of a calme by reason of a mist and the marriners negligence to sound and discover the distances from land split it selfe upon a rocke as well as bee cast upon it by an irresistable storme So the man who never fathomes his heart nor searcheth how neere hee is to ruine but goes leasurely and vniformely on in his formall and pharisaicall security when he least thinketh on it may perish as likely under the power of sinne as he in whom the rage of it is most apparant 32 The heart of a man is like a beast that hath much filth and garbage shut up under a faire skin till the word like a sacrificing sword slit it open and as it were unridge the conscience to discover it 33 As a small stone thrown with a strong arme will doe more hurt then a far greater sent forth with a fainter impression so a small sin committed with a high hand with more security presumption and customariness then others will more wast the conscience then far greater out of infirmity or sudden surprisall 34 If sin which cannot be avoided be not lamented it is vndoubtedly obeyed 35 As mad men must be bound before they can be cured so men in their lusts must be hampred by the Law before the Gospell and the spirit of liberty will bee welcome to them 36 A hammer and a pillow is the best way to breake a flint a prison and and a pardon a